


Both Sides Now

by Toongrrl1990



Series: It's A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad Men World [5]
Category: Mad Men
Genre: 1960s, 1970s, Confidence, F/M, Future, Gen, Memories, Past, Pregnancy, Reflection, Self-Reflection, Shout-outs, learning, present
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-03
Updated: 2017-04-04
Packaged: 2018-10-14 07:27:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 520
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10531731
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Toongrrl1990/pseuds/Toongrrl1990
Summary: I honestly cried when I first wrote this.Peggy Olson and Peggy Rizzo stare at each other through a mirror.





	1. October 1960

_"Who is that girl I see_  
_Staring straight back at me?_  
_When will my reflection show_  
_Who I am inside?"_ _REFLECTION_ , **_Mulan_**

 

Peggy Olson gets up and takes a look in the mirror and sees herself pregnant. This time, she's a little older looking, with her hair cut in a very relaxed flip. "What? No hairspray?" she thought to herself, as she examined the woman looking at her. This woman had her shiny, chocolate hair along with her large, Irish nose and wide forehead; the blue eyes she felt were her best feature, the pointed chin and soft line of her cheeks. Yet this stranger was not as overweight as she, even with her round belly and plumper curvature and she's baring her strong and shapely legs in a floaty nightie that looked very exposed. Yet, more importantly, this woman has self-confidence and sophistication. She looked....well like Joan, except with something more than the Beauty Queen poise possessed by the sultry redhead, beyond beauty, poise, femininity, and fashion. This looks like a woman sure of herself and her future, a woman made "real" and possesses a sense of extra height that isn't physical. "I declare if that woman hasn't got quite a knowing expression!" she thought, paraphrasing a line from a favorite children's book, this woman is looking directly at her and smiling. Best of all there was a warm smile assuring her that everything will be alright, that she will be in a better place than she is now.  __  
  



	2. June 1971

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Peggy is (10 years) older, wiser, more confident, and pregnant and looking at her younger self.

_“….you know we’re not put on this earth to live where we never get hurt or never make mistakes. We’re put here to hurl ourselves headfirst into this crazy world and the bruises and scrapes you get along the way? They just mean you’re living life!” Lois Foutley_  


 

Peggy Rizzo is looking at herself from eleven years earlier. The short girl with the glossy ringlets, old-fashioned nightgown, and plump fertility statuette figure looked very scared and bashful. Peggy wanted to take that girl, hold her, and assure her that everything will be alright yet warn her to avoid certain mistakes. "Too late," she thought looking at the full belly and chubby jawline of her younger self. This girl will have to learn from the mistakes she'll make and triumph from them, becoming stronger and better...or else this girl won't live. Because the bad will be outweighed by the good. She'll become a copy chief by a decade's end, dress with a strong sense of self, she'll love and lose, she'll make people respect her, she'll be fearless, she'll find love with someone that loves her and makes her real by the time she feels shabby, people will love and respect her, she'll start realizing her dreams of advancing in her job, she'll always have the courage to love again, and she will be in the same place she is right this instant. She can't offer much to this girl, except a warm, assuring smile. "Run and play, little Rabbit!" she quoted from a beloved children's book, one that she SURELY will re-read again, this time to her twins.

**Author's Note:**

> Read Nikinou's fanfics (which inspired me here). 
> 
> Inspired by the song by Judy Collins (and covered by Joni Mitchell) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A7Xm30heHms and by The Velveteen Rabbit.


End file.
